CONDITIONS were so bad that midway through the English National Cross-Country Championships it was feared the remainder of the programme at Alton Towers would have to be abandoned.

Rain and light snow made conditions severely testing.

The senior women's race was changed from 8km to 6km while the senior men's, the final event of the 10-race programme, was cut from 12km to 10km in order to ensure everything was completed before darkness.

By the time of the senior men's race, with 1,400 athletes lining up, the course was a complete quagmire but Stockport's Steve Vernon seemed to glide over the surface on his way to picking up his first National title.

New Marske athlete Andy Wiles crossed the line in 15th place, two minutes behind Vernon.

Morpeth's Matt Nicholson finished in 35th place while Graeme Taylor (Jarrow and Hebburn) finished 83rd. While Leeds City's six scorers, including former Chester-le-Street athlete Carl Smith (50th), totalled 188 points to finish in pole position, South Shields totalled 2,686 for 32nd place, Low Fell were 55th on 3,924 while perennial National supporters Aurora finished with 6,673 for 93rd position.

Winchester's Louise Damen proved the strongest in the senior women's contest after beating off the challenge of Hallamshire's Hatti Dean and Liz Yelling (Bedford).

Justina Heslop, who will be making her senior debut for the county of her birth, battled through the elements to finish 15th.

Darlington's Georgina Rutherford, a member of last year's winning Inter Counties team, finished 37th while Middlesbrough and Cleveland's Carolyn Summersgill was 50th, closely followed by Mary Ferrier (Gateshead), two places and two seconds behind.

The region had high hopes of success in both the junior (under-20) races after Elswick's Phil Hurst and Kate Avery (Shildon) had been outstanding in the Northern's in Sunderland. However, it didn't turn out that way with both athletes finding it really tough going.

REPORT, results and pictures of the junior races at Alton Towers will appear in Wednesday's Grassroots Sport.